Media Inadvertently Convicts UVA Lacrosse Player Of “Murder”

The death of UVA lacrosse player Yeardley Love is certainly a tragedy, and fellow UVA student George Huguely has been charged with murder.

But the media is often loose with the description of the death – sometimes referring to it as a “murder” – and the implication becomes that Huguely is guilty.

The thing that this makes the case different than other murder cases is that Huguely has admitted to causing her harm. But his lawyer maintains Love’s death was “not intended but an accident with a tragic outcome.” In other words – his defense is that there wasn’t a murder at all.

But that’s not the way the media has always played it. The news networks, cable and broadcast, have repeatedly described Love’s death as a “murder” (video below), as have print outlets. There’s an important distinction between saying Huguely is being charged with murder and that the death is in fact a murder. Because of the circumstances, if the media refers to it as a murder it is effectively convicting Huguely.

Is it nitpicking? Maybe. But it’s certainly important, as the facts of the case continue to emerge.

Check out this mash-up of TV news using the term “murder” in various contexts. Note the difference between calling the death a murder versus describing what he was charged with:

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